Lighted Display System and Apparatus

ABSTRACT

The present invention is a lighted display system which interacts with its environment. Sensors and product and consumer databases feed information to a central processing unit which then selects a given lighting pattern to control illumination of a product display. Relevant information could include consumer profiles, product sale data, discount data, product location and consumer presence. Lighting is then used to draw a consumer&#39;s attention to product in which the consumer may have more interest.

CROSS-REFERENCES TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This Application claims priority as a non-provisional perfection of U.S. Provisional Application 61/649,906, filed May 21, 2012, which is incorporated by reference in its entirety herein.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates to the field of retail displays and more particularly relates to a retail display system with automatic and computer controlled shelf lighting to draw shoppers' attentions to items thereon displayed and a lighting structure for use with the system.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Retail displays are a cornerstone of the free-market economic system. As the system is driven by selling goods and services, displays and advertisements are necessary to inform the consumer as to the availability goods and services for sale. To this end, companies spend large amounts of money developing displays that attractively showcase products for sale. One of the simplest concepts is the merchandizer or “merchandizer,” a specially built construction for holding quantities of product for sale to the consumer. Many different types of merchandizers have been developed for the display of different types of goods, from clothing to food stuffs to toys to almost any item that can be sold. Merchandizers are designed to not only hold product for sale and allow consumers to see and inspect the product, but also to attract a customer's attention, showcase the product in a positive light and create the desire to buy the product. Many studies have been made into consumer psychology and one common understanding is that a well-lit display can be useful in drawing the consumer's attention and stimulating the purchase impulse.

The key components of any merchandizer are: 1. to draw the consumers' attentions to the items for sale; 2. to display and hold goods in an attractive manner that allows for consumer inspection; and 3. to hold sufficient quantities of goods so that goods are still available even after some items have been purchased. Lighting has previously been used to enhance a merchandizer, and some lighting has even been motion sensitive in order to reduce power consumption and attract a consumer's eye. The present invention is a lighted display system that effectively draws a consumer's attention to the display and enhances the aesthetics of the display and the products.

The present invention represents a departure from the prior art in that the lighted display system of the present invention allows for intelligent and responsive lighting of the display. The lighting system also comprises sensors, other input devices, and programmable computer controls so that the display will react to environmental conditions and also interact with a consumer. Previous lighted displays merely illuminated a product or area in a merchandizer or case, or utilized a patterned lighting display to draw attention. Recently, some displays, in particular larger merchandising cases, have incorporated lighting timers and motion sensitive switching to activate lights if a consumer passed by and keep them on while sufficient activity is detected around the display. These prior art uses of lighting, however effective for their intended purposes, are not truly interactive and only react simplistically to environment.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

In view of the foregoing disadvantages inherent in the known types of retail displays, this invention provides an interactive retail display. As such, the present invention's general purpose is to provide a new and improved retail display that utilizes sensors and other input to adjust lighting of the display to interact with the display's environment and shoppers

To accomplish these objectives, the retail display comprises a retail merchandizer with integrated lighting, a CPU and at least one environmental input. The input may be sensory, such as a motion or light sensor, or it may be cued to the shopper through the use of RFID chips, loyalty cards or other identifying marker. Upon receiving input, the CPU processes the data, compiles it with information in a database and chooses a response illumination pattern. Database information would include information on the shopper, such as past purchases and favorite products, and product data, including promotional, discount, and sale data.

The more important features of the invention have thus been outlined in order that the more detailed description that follows may be better understood and in order that the present contribution to the art may better be appreciated. Additional features of the invention will be described hereinafter and will form the subject matter of the claims that follow.

Many objects of this invention will appear from the following description and appended claims, reference being made to the accompanying drawings forming a part of this specification wherein like reference characters designate corresponding parts in the several views.

Before explaining at least one embodiment of the invention in detail, it is to be understood that the invention is not limited in its application to the details of construction and the arrangements of the components set forth in the following description or illustrated in the drawings. The invention is capable of other embodiments and of being practiced and carried out in various ways. Also it is to be understood that the phraseology and terminology employed herein are for the purpose of description and should not be regarded as limiting.

As such, those skilled in the art will appreciate that the conception, upon which this disclosure is based, may readily be utilized as a basis for the designing of other structures, methods and systems for carrying out the several purposes of the present invention. It is important, therefore, that the claims be regarded as including such equivalent constructions insofar as they do not depart from the spirit and scope of the present invention.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a schematic of the lighted display system of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a candy merchandizer utilizing the present invention.

FIG. 3 is the candy merchandizer of FIG. 2 connected to a POS terminal.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT

With reference now to the drawings, the preferred embodiment of the lighted display system is herein described. It should be noted that the articles “a”, “an”, and “the”, as used in this specification, include plural referents unless the content clearly dictates otherwise.

With reference to FIG. 1, the display system has, at its core, a CPU 40 which has access to at least one database. Two possible databases are a product information database 10, which contains details about products offered for sale, and a customer database 20, which includes customer data. Data included in the product database 10 could include any information relevant to products offered for sale, including whether or not the product is being offered for a discount and location on the display. Personal database 20 may include a favorite product listing, for example a favorite candy bar, which has been gleaned from any method of data gathering currently known or later determined. Perhaps the best form of customer data gathering known at this day is the “loyalty card,” where a customer obtains a card which gives access to discounts in a store, but also attaches and compiles purchase data into a profile, thus allowing a merchant to provide targeted offers which the consumer may find more relevant than a blanket advertisement.

Auxiliary inputs 30 are also utilized. Any sensor that provides environmental data to the CPU 40 may be used as an auxiliary input, the most relevant would be a motion sensor or some form of identification sensor (like a card reader or RFID) which would be used to identify a particular consumer. Other auxiliary inputs, like a touch screen for consumer interaction, may also be used. Data is then received and compiled by the CPU 40 and a lighting program is chosen and transmitted to the lighting control processor 50. The lighting program may be of any design, ranging from the most basic to more complex. The simplest program would be to light up the merchandizer in some form of interesting pattern 60, merely to highlight the product and to grab attention. A more complex lighting pattern specifically designed to draw a consumer's attention to a featured product, usually by agreement between the manufacturer and the merchant, may also be used 70. Likewise, product data may be utilized to highlight products offered for a discount 80 and draw a consumer's attention to not only the product but the fact it is being offered for a sale price. Consumer data may be utilized to generate a display that highlights a user's favorite products 90 and increase the likelihood of an impulse buy on a non-discounted product. The combinations and patterns that may be utilized are only limited by the imagination of the programmer. It is, of course, readily appreciated that the CPU 40 and the lighting control processor 50 may, in fact, be the same processor as computing power has increased to the point that a simple processor could handle the necessary computations. In such cases, the single processor would be considered to be two that are “operatively coupled.” The databases 10, 20 are also understood to be stored on some form of memory available to the CPU 40.

FIG. 2 depicts a candy display 100 which implements the present invention. The display 100 is comprised of two walls and a header 110. The walls hold intermediate shelving 120 and a bottom shelf 130. Product, such as candy bars 140, is then positioned on the shelves 120, 130. Intermediate shelves 120 and header 110 carry lighting 150 that is controlled by the lighting control unit 50 of FIG. 1. At a determined time and in a determined pattern, the lighting 150 illuminates product 140. LED lighting is an ideal lighting for the application of the invention as LED lighting is very cost effective to manufacture and control, it can be selected to emit light within a given wavelength and it generates little heat, either of which could affect product.

The merchandizer 100 may be coupled to a point of sale (POS) terminal 200 to form a complete unit, as shown in FIG. 3. The illustrated POS terminal 200 is a stand-alone self-service terminal, however any POS terminal or check out stand, self or full service, may be utilized. The processor components may then be easily stored in the terminal 200 and may then control the merchandizer 100 through a connection (represented by wire 220) of any type currently known or later discovered, including wireless connections. The system may then not only utilize lighting 150 to capture the consumer's attention, but may also utilize other consumer interfaces, like the screen 210, to interact with the consumer.

Although the present invention has been described with reference to preferred embodiments, numerous modifications and variations can be made and still the result will come within the scope of the invention. No limitation with respect to the specific embodiments disclosed herein is intended or should be inferred. 

What is claimed is:
 1. A lighted display system comprising: a computer processor; at least one database; a lighting processor operatively connected to the computer processor; at least one lighting module operatively connected to the lighting processor, said lighting module being mounted upon a merchandise display; wherein the computer processor instructs the lighting processor to activate the at least one lighting module in according to a pattern determined to attract consumer attention to individual products displayed on the merchandise display based upon information contained in the at least one database.
 2. The display system of claim 1, the at least one database including product information.
 3. The display system of claim 1, the at least one database including customer data.
 4. The display system of claim 1, further comprising at least one auxiliary input.
 5. The display system of claim 4, the at least one auxiliary input being chosen from the set of auxiliary inputs consisting of: environmental sensors, card readers, RFID chip sensors and readers, and customer input devices.
 6. The display system of claim 1, the pattern being selected from a set of patterns consisting of: highlighting customer favorite products, highlighting featured products, and highlighting discounted products.
 7. The display system of claim 1, the computer processor and the lighting control processor being the same processor.
 8. A method of attracting customer attention to a specified product on a merchandizer, the method comprising: operatively coupling at least one lighting module, mounted upon the merchandizer in a manner to shine light on displayed product, to a lighting control processor and the lighting control processor in turn to a computer processor; providing at least one database of information accessible to the computer processor; the computer processor accessing the at least one database in order to determine a selected lighting pattern; the computer processor communicating the selected lighting pattern to the lighting control processor; and the lighting control processor executing the selected pattern by activating the at least one lighting module according to the selected pattern.
 9. The method of claim 8, further comprising the steps of providing at least one auxiliary input operatively connected to the computer processor and data from the at least one auxiliary input is used to determine the selected pattern.
 10. The method of claim 9, the at least one auxiliary input being chosen from the set of auxiliary inputs consisting of: environmental sensors, card readers, RFID chip sensors and readers, and customer input devices.
 11. The method of claim 8, the at least one database including product information.
 12. The method of claim 8, the at least one database including customer data.
 13. The method of claim 8, the selected pattern being selected from a set of patterns consisting of: highlighting customer favorite products, highlighting featured products, and highlighting discounted products.
 14. The method of claim 8, the computer processor and the lighting control processor being the same processor. 